Pato O'Ward set for major meeting with IndyCar CEO about 2026 Mexico City race

Pato O'Ward has revealed that he is going to meet IndyCar CEO Mark Miles at the upcoming race from July 18 to 20 in Toronto. The agenda of the meeting is going to be Miles filling him in on the series' progress on finalizing a race in Mexico, his home country, for the 2026 season.

O'Ward has been wanting IndyCar to race in Mexico for over half a decade now. Until last year, the series had failed to make any considerable ground in its negotiations with the Mexico City race promoters. The promoters doubted IndyCar's ability to fill the seats at the Autodromos Hermanos Rodriguez.

When Mark Miles conveyed this message publicly, he also claimed that Pato O'Ward wasn't famous enough to warrant a race there. His statement sparked controversy, with the Arrow McLaren driver retorting with a whole campaign based on the tagline 'Pato Who?' However, Miles came out to clarify that he had no intentions to demean O'Ward.

Ahead of the 2025 Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto, O'Ward spoke about a Mexico race on the 2026 calendar. He said via ESPN MX on YouTube [9:30 onwards]:

"Actually, I have a meeting in Toronto, where they're going to give me the scoop about what is going on there. But it looks promising. We might be talking about that very soon." [translated from Spanish via Google]

When asked which IndyCar stakeholder he would be meeting with, the Mexican driver replied:

"It’s going to be with Mark. I’m going to see him. I saw him in Iowa, but I couldn’t talk to him. It was very intense, the... how do you say, the schedule. So, yes. They're going to paint me a picture of how everything is falling right now and where the conversations are going. I want to be very involved, right? I don’t just want to be the pilot who goes and promotes, right? I mean, I'm going to be there involved in everything else."

As per reporter Tony Donohue, IndyCar could make the Mexico City announcement after the race weekend at Toronto. Reports as early as April had already claimed that the premier American open-wheel racing series had nearly closed a deal to race in Mexico from 2026 onwards.

---

Pato O'Ward gives an idea of the expected date for the 2026 IndyCar race in Mexico City

Pato O'Ward at the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 - Source: Getty

Earlier this year, Pato O'Ward shared an estimate of where IndyCar could place the Mexico City race on the 2026 calendar. He explained that the race could be close to the inaugural Arlington GP in March, which would make the most sense for the series from a logistical point of view.

Speaking about the potential Mexico race next year, the 25-year-old said on the Pit Pass Indy podcast:

"I think we can see it as soon as 2026. That's definitely what I've been pushing for and what I know IndyCar is pushing for. It might be pretty close to the Arlington Grand Prix. You never know if they might be back-to-backs because it is gonna be the closest one to Mexico, in terms of logistics travel-wise."

Before IndyCar's highly anticipated Mexico debut in 2026, O'Ward will get a competitive outing at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in October this year. He will pilot one of McLaren's MCL39s in FP1 of the 2025 Mexico City GP on October 24.

Pato O'Ward secured his first win of 2025 in Race 1 of the Iowa double-header last weekend. That was followed by a P5 in Race 2, which secured him runner-up in the standings behind championship leader Alex Palou.

Edited by Luke Koshi